Gore Verbinski's BioShock movie would have somehow used both endings but no studio was "willing to go" where he was headed

Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski has revealed further details about his unrealised adaptation of BioShock, including how the movie would have handled the original game's two choice-based endings.

Answering a question from a fan during a Reddit AMA for his upcoming movie, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, Verbinski says, as well as keeping it "hard R with the Little Sisters, and the 'choices' the protagonist makes", the movie would have somehow incorporated both of the game's diametrically opposed endings, which require you to sacrifice or save the Little Sisters.

"I had worked out a way with writer John Logan to have both endings," Verbinski notes. "And I was looking forward to bringing that to the big screen and really fucking with people's heads."

Verbinski was announced to be adapting BioShock for Universal way back in 2008, off the back of his wildly successful Pirates trilogy. The project reportedly stalled over Verbinski's desire to build a functioning underwater rail transport system for the movie (Five years later, he would make The Lone Ranger, which features a major setpiece aboard a real moving locomotive). After a director switch, the movie was personally killed by former Irrational Games head Ken Levine, who "didn't really see the match there."

Elsewhere during the AMA, Verbinski offered further insights into his adaptation of the Irrational Games classic, noting that the movie would have "dived deeply into the Oedipal aspect" of the story, and stayed faithful to the iconic art design of the original game. "[We] had some great designs for the Big Daddies and the entire underwater demented art-deco aesthetic. Every year I hear something about the project, but I’m not sure any studio is quite willing to go where I was headed."

Since Verbinski stepped away, there hasn't been much progress on the BioShock adaptation. Hunger Games stalwart Francis Lawrence is currently slated to helm a BioShock movie for Netflix, though there's been little forward momentum since the project was announced in 2022. Late last year, producer Roy Lee noted that the script would "definitely" be based on the first game and is still being worked on.

After 16 years in development hell, the BioShock movie still doesn't have a release date. For more, check out our ever-growing list of upcoming video game movies, or, check out our list of the best Netflix movies to stream right now.